


To Hope For Forgiveness

by AmazingViola



Series: Of Unlikely Friendships and New Beginnings [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Kidnapping, Rogue Avengers, Team Cap friendly, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark acting as Peter Parker’s parental figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26274274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmazingViola/pseuds/AmazingViola
Summary: Watching Tony’s retreating figure, one arm slung around Peter, the other around Natsuko, Steve felt a small smile slip onto his face. Things were by no means perfect — the guilt of the past still hung heavily on Steve, like storm clouds hanging on the horizon, threatening to ruin what might otherwise be a beautiful day —, but for the first time since their fight, for the first time in three long years, there was hope shining on the horizon; hope for freedom, hope for forgiveness.~Tony, after calling on Steve and the others in an act of desperation, slowly begins to mend what had been broken, while Steve learns that there is more to Tony than he had ever imagined, and that somehow these two kids had wormed their way into Tony’s heart in a way that none of the rest of them had ever managed.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark & Steve Rogers
Series: Of Unlikely Friendships and New Beginnings [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1856404
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	1. An Unexpected Call

**Author's Note:**

> This continues in the same world as “The Blurry Line Between Friendship and Family” and “Changing Seasons”, so it might make more sense if you read those stories first. Enjoy!

Steve stared at the phone ringing in his hand. He had meant what he said when he left the phone for Tony, but he had never actually thought that Tony would call him. It had been two years since Steve had last seen Tony, and time had shown as grey things that, in the moment, had seemed black and white. Steve knew he and Tony had both made mistakes, but the guilt lay heavily on Steve’s shoulders. Tony acting rashly came as no surprise to anyone, but Steve on the other hand… Steve was supposed to be the level headed one, the rational one, yet in the moment when it mattered the most, he had acted on emotion, not reason. Had he perhaps thought before running, said something to Tony earlier, tried to explain, talked instead of just thought, then things might have turned out differently. But he did none of those things, and was now left to suffer the repercussions. 

The phone continued to ring, oblivious of the war of emotions it’s ringing evoked in the man who held it. 

“Are you going to answer it?” 

Natasha stared at Steve from where she was perched on a chair across the room. The two of them, along with Sam and Bucky, were hiding out in a small cabin in southern Maine. Clint and Scott had opted to go back to their families, and Wanda and Vision had dropped off the grid and were, last Steve heard, living somewhere in Europe. 

After spending just over a year in Wakanda to replace Bucky’s arm — and deal with the whole, you know, HYDRA brainwashing thing —, the four of them came back to the US, operating under the radar and searching out remaining HYDRA cells to take down. It wasn’t always ideal, but it was a whole lot better than being stuck in the Raft, so Steve took it as a win. 

Taking a steadying breath, Steve flipped the phone open and held it up to his ear. 

“Steve. Thank god. I need your help.” 

Steve wasn’t sure what he had been expecting to hear when he picked up the phone, but it was definitely not  _ that _ . Tony’s voice was rough and tired, but above all, it was desperate. Desperate in a way Steve had never heard Tony sound before. 

“Please. I know we left it on a bad note. I just— I really need your help.”

Steve’s entire body went stiff with panic, and he saw Natasha stand up, watching him. He wasn’t sure what was more shocking: the raw desperation in Tony’s voice or the fact that Steve was pretty sure that was the first time he had ever heard the billionaire say ‘please’. Whatever it was, it had Steve signaling Natasha to get Sam and Bucky before Tony had even finished his first sentence. 

“Tony you need to slow down.” Steve interjected as Tony continued to ramble at a mile a minute, trying to stop the panic coursing through his body from showing in his voice. That was the last thing Tony needed right now. 

“Of course we’ll help you.”

“Oh thank God.” Tony said again, audibly letting out a breath. “They took her on Thursday and we can’t find anything. No ransom note, nothing. It’s like she just disappeared off the face of the earth.”

Steve could hear Tony’s breaths spreading up again in panic so he quickly cut in. 

“Woah, Tony, take a breath. I don’t understand. Who took whom?” By then Natasha, Sam and Bucky had made their way back into the room. Making quick eye contact with Bucky, Steve switched the phone to speakerphone. 

“I don’t know. Someone took Natsuko. Just grabbed her on her way home from school. No ransom or threats or anything. She’s just gone.”

Steve didn’t know anyone named Natsuko, but it was obvious that Tony cared about her, and that was enough for Steve. 

Clearly it was enough for Natasha too. 

“Tony, I know you’re worried about her, but we need all of the information if we're going to help.” Her voice was calm, but Steve could hear the underlying concern. 

“Right. Okay. Uh, I have everything in an encrypted file. Let me know how best to send it to you.” Tony sounded marginally calmer, and Steve could hear noises from the other side of the phone as if Tony were moving around. 

“How good is your encryption?” Natasha asked, brow furrowing in thought. 

“It is  _ me _ we’re talking about. What do you think?” Tony responded snarky. Before, Steve might have been annoyed by the dismissive response, but now he could see that it was just Tony’s way of showing his fear, his uncertainty. 

“Ok…” Natasha mused before rattling off one of the anonymous email addresses they had been using. It was risky to send the information over something as hackable as email, but at that point they didn’t have many other options. Not ten seconds later, there was a soft ding as the email came in. All four of them gathered around the computer screen to better see what Tony had sent. 

“What’s the encryption key?” Natasha asked, already typing away. 

Tony paused for a moment, before responding. “Schubert.”

Steve and Bucky glanced at each other in confusion, but Natasha wasted no time in applying the key. Sam, Bucky, and Steve drifted away to let Natsha work, but she wasn’t known as one of the best hackers in the world for nothing; it took her less than 5 minutes to decrypt the file. Calling the three of them back, she opened the file and scanned the contents. 

“Natusko Tanaka. Ethnicity: Japanese. Age: 11 years old. Height: 4’4”. Last seen: leaving school on Thursday, December 17.” Natasha read, glancing through the documents. 

Steve had so many questions. Hell, his questions had questions. But Tony didn’t need Steve to ask questions; Tony needed Steve to search for his kid. So search they did. 

~

They looked for four days. 

For four days, they spent every waking second sifting through traffic cameras, car records, even snapchat stories. Hoping to see something, anything. Finally, on the morning of the fifth day, they found their first lead. It was sketchy at best — a blurry shot in the back of an instagram story —, but it was enough. From there, all of the pieces fell into place easily; a license plate, a credit card, a name, an underground compound in Indian.

The next couple of hours were a blur of motion. In the blink of an eye, they were on the quinjet, agreeing to meet Tony in Corning, Indiana. Steve would have been entertained by the name if the situation were not so tense, but as it was he had no thoughts for anything but the mission. 

As Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Bucky stepped out of the quinjet, they were met by Tony and Rhodey, both in full suits. Steve felt Sam flinch a little as he looked at Rhodey, but the other man just smiled tiredly at him. The reunion with Tony when admirably smoothly, all things considered. By some sort of silent agreement, no one spoke of what happened last time they saw each other, though Steve did notice how Tony’s eyes lingered just a second longer on Bucky before he started debriefing them. 

The plan was a simple one; eliminate the hostiles, get Natsuko. Tony had already scanned the building and gave each of them a rundown of the layout and approximately where the hostiles were while Natasha patched him and Rhodey through to the rest of their coms to make it easier for everyone to talk to each other once they were inside. 

In total there were only eight hostiles, and the whole operation in general seemed rather thrown together at the last moment, so Steve wasn’t expecting it to be a very difficult mission, but he knew better than to completely let his guard down. After one last quick confirmation that everyone was on the same page, they split into pairs and headed into the compound. 

Steve and Bucky made their way carefully through the silent hallways. At this point they had done this so many times that they barely even needed to talk, moving, breathing, thinking as one. 

“Four hostiles on the southern end down.” Natasha’s voice came through the coms. 

“Two more down over here.” Rhodey responded. “That leaves only two more.”

“Copy that. We haven’t met anyone yet. We’ll let you know if we do.” Steve added quietly, glancing quickly around a turn in the hallway.

As Steve and Bucky rounded the corner, they were faced with a fork in the hallway. Steve barely glanced at Bucky before taking the left path, feeling more than seeing Bucky take the right one. 

The hallway that Steve chose was completely deserted, and after a few minutes of walking he came to another intersection. Glancing to the left, he saw Sam and Natahsa heading towards him. He paused for a second, waiting for them to catch up to him. 

“Bucky went around the other way.” He explained in response to Sam’s questioning look. 

“Okay.” Natasha pulled her phone out of her pocket and glanced down at it quickly. “If we keep heading this way,” she nodded at the middle fork of the intersection, “we should meet up with Rhodey and Tony pretty soon.” 

A couple hundred feet later, they did in fact run into Tony and Rhodey, and the five of them made their way towards the last three heat signatures showing on Tony’s HUD. Steve noticed the noticeable lack of jokes on Tony’s part, but he assumed that was a combination of Tony’s worry for Natsuko and his distrust of the rest of them in general. Steve was pulled out of his thoughts as they came to an open room. Stepping in they were met with a large glass panel separating them from the other half of the room. Tony had his faceplate down, but Steve heard his rough intake of breath as he took in the scene in front of him. 

There were two men standing in the center of the room, decked out in all black. The man on the right was unarmed, but the man on the left had a shotgun casually resting in his hand. The third mem ber of the room was a little girl, who Steve immediately recognized as Natsuko from the pictures of her he had seen. 

Steve felt his stomach twist at how tiny she looked, her wrists and ankles tied to the chair between the two men, her eyes wide and terrified. He didn’t even know her, but as Steve looked at Tony’s expression as he looked at Natsuko, he knew he would do anything to get her back to him unharmed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger! Thanks for reading and have a nice Labor Day!


	2. Rescue

**Previously...**

There were two men standing in the center of the room, decked out in all black. The man on the right was unarmed, but the man on the left had a shotgun casually resting in his hand. The third member of the room was a little girl, who Steve immediately recognized as Natsuko from the pictures of her he had seen. 

Steve felt his stomach twist at how tiny she looked, her wrists and ankles tied to the chair between the two men, her eyes wide and terrified. He didn’t even know her, but as Steve looked at Tony’s expression as he looked at Natsuko, he knew he would do anything to get her back to him unharmed. 

~

“Ah, I see you have brought some friends, Mr. Stark.” The man on the right, who seemed to be the leader, smiled coldly at them. 

“Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.” Tony responded, his voice sounding metallic through the suit. 

The man smirked at them. “But that would get rid of all of the fun now wouldn’t it?” He turned to his comrade and mused, “You know, it’s rather off putting to speak with a suit of armor. I would much rather speak to the man inside. Would you be so kind as to please remove yourself from you suit, Mr. Stark.”

Tony continued to glare at them, unmovingly. 

“Ah, it seems you need a bit of encouragement.” The two men exchanged a quick glance before the one on the left raised his gun to be pointing at Natsuko. The movement was fluid, casual even, but Steve felt his heart miss a beat, and he heard how Tony seemed to choke on his own breath. 

“Woah, chill it dude.” Tony tried to sound relaxed as he stepped out of his suite, but Steve could hear the underlying panic in his voice as clear as day. 

“You see, knew we would get along nicely.” The man smiled cooly again, reaching down to turn her chin towards him, ignoring the way that she flinched and cowered away from his hand. “Your little friend here doesn’t talk much, does she?”

Steve saw Tony’s face go ashen and his hands clench into fists. 

“You see,” The man continued looking back at them, “I’ve been watching you for quite a while.” 

The man’s voice faded into the background as all of Steve’s attention focused on the door behind the two men, which was painstakingly slowly being pushed open. After what seemed like an eternity, Bucky finally got the door wide enough open for him to slip silently into the room. Neither man seemed to have noticed, as the leader continued obliviously explaining his grievances against Tony. 

Steve watched as Bucky took a second to assess the situation, before looking at Tony questioningly, clearly asking whether he could act. Tony kept his face impassive, but gave a small thumbs up to Rhodey, positioning his hand so that the men across the room couldn’t see it. Rhodey still had his mask on which meant the men couldn't see his face, so quickly gave Bucky and all clear over the coms. 

In a flash of movement, Bucky surged forward, knocking the gun out of the hand of the man on the left. A split second and two well aimed punches later, both men lay unconscious on the ground. Steve let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding as he watched Bucky make his way around Natsuko, kneeling down so that he was at the same level as her. She had started crying at some point earlier, and the harsh lights in the room reflected off of the tear tracks on her cheeks. 

“Hey there.” Bucky kept his voice quiet so as not to frighten her further. “I’m here with Tony. I’m not going to hurt you, but I need to get these ropes untied, is that okay?”

Natsuko looked up at Tony for confirmation. 

“It’s ok Natsuko. He’s with me.” Tony said, giving her a reassuring smile. 

Natsuko hesitated for another second, before shyly nodding at Bucky. 

“Tones.” Rhodey lifted the mask on his suit. “I don’t see any way to get through. We’re going to have to meet them around front.”

“Fine.” Tony said, pursing his lips in annoyance. “Natsuko?” She looked up quickly at him. “We can’t get through here, so we’re going to meet you and Bucky out front, okay?”

She gave a quick nod, and the five of them quickly made their way to where the quinjet was waiting at the front of the building. It only took Bucky a few minutes to get the rest of the ropes untied and come around front with Natsuko. Steve looked up as he came around the corner of the building, carrying Natsuko. Steve’s gaze softened at how tiny and fragile she looked in Bucky’s arms, but as soon as she could see Tony, she was squirming to be let down. Bucky obliged quickly, and as soon as Natsuko’s geet were on the ground, she was running towards Tony. Without a second of hesitation, Tony dropped to his knees and drew her closer to him as she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. 

Steve and Natasha shared a surprised glance. Both of them were well aware of Tony’s aversion to physical contact, but he didn’t seem to think twice about hugging Natsuko. Steve wondered how much else had changed since they’d been gone. 

They stood there for a couple of minutes, Natsuko sobbing against Tony’s chest, Tony rubbing his hand up and down her back and speaking softly to her in what sounded like Japanese. Finally Natsko pulled away and looked cautiously over at where the rest of them were standing, and shifted, if possible, even closer to Tony. 

Tony squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s okay. They helped me find you.”

Natsuko nodded, still not looking completely convinced. 

Natasha gave Natsuko a quick smile — to which Natusko buried her face in Tony’s shirt again — before looking at Tony. “We can fly you back to New York if you want. Probably don’t want to take her all that way with one of the suits.”

Tony let out a little nod and looked down at Natsuko. “Is it okay with you if they fly us back home?”

Natsuko nodded into his shirt.

“Okay.” Tony stood up, keeping Natsuko firmly tucked into his side, one of her hands holding on to his shirt. 

It took a few minutes to get everyone settled in the quinjet, but once Natsuko was curled up against Tony and completely wrapped in the blanket Sam had given her, Natasha gently piloted the quinjet into flight. Steve noticed the way that Natsuko went completely stiff when the quinjet first lifted off the ground, but after a couple of quiet words from Tony, she relaxed again. Steve slipped off to change out of his uniform and into more comfortable clothes, and when he came back to the main room of the quinjet, he saw that Natsuko had fallen asleep against Tony as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. 

Steve could barely believe that the Tony sitting in front of him was the same man he had worked with for so many years, but he had to say that this was definitely a change for the better. In all the time that Steve had known Tony, he didn’t think he’d ever heard Tony speak to anyone so gently as he spoke to Natusko. Steve would by lying to say that it wasn’t a welcome change. 

Steve watched as Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen a couple of times before holding it up to his ear. 

“Hey Pep.” Tony smiled softly. “Yeah, we did it. We got her. She’s ok.” He was quiet for a second as he listened to Pepper talk. “Yep. They’re flying us back.” There was another second of silence, before Tony let out a small huff of laughter. “Sure thing. How’s Pete holding up?”

Steve felt Bucky give him a confused glance, but he just shrugged; he had now idea who Pete was. Steve looked up again as Tony let out a long sigh. 

“Can I talk to him?” Tony asked, running a hand across his face. “Hey bud. How you doin’?” A small smile crept across Tony’s face at whatever the person on the other end of the line said. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you deflect that question, but yes, we found her. She’s a little shaken up, but not hurt.” There was another second of silence during which Tony glanced down at the girl still fast asleep in his lap. “She’s sleeping now. You’ll be able to talk to her when we get back. We’ll be back soon.” He paused for a second, listening, before continuing softly, “Okay. Get some sleep. See you soon.” Then, almost so softly that Steve couldn’t hear it, “I love you too kiddo.” 

After Tony hung up his call, the quinjet faded into an easy silence. The next hour passed quickly, and in no time Steve felt the quinjet slowing down as they approached the compound. He glanced over at Tony, to see him gently waking Natsuko up and helping her stand up. Natasha was an extremely accomplished pilot, and the landing was a smooth one, despite the thin layer of snow on the ground. As the ramp of the quinjet opened onto the lawn outside the compound, Steve was met with a sight equal parts expected and unexpected. 

Pepper and Rhodey, who had flown back in his suit, were both waiting for them — which was expected — but standing beside them were two teenagers — which was decidedly  _ unexpected _ . The one standing closer to the quinjet was a boy, with sharp features offset by a mess of curly hair. About half a step behind him stood the other teen, a girl with carmel brown skin and frizzy black hair. Both seemed to be late high school aged and were clearly wearing hastily thrown on winter clothes. 

As soon as she reached them, Natsuko was engulfed in a hug by the boy, who held her close to his chest, as if afraid that she would disappear. Once the two of them were done, Natsuko went on to hug the girl and Pepper who was talking quietly with Tony just behind them. Once Natsuko had greeted everyone, Tony reached out and gave the boy a hug, taking a second to rest his face on the boy’s hair before giving the girl a fistbump and a genuine smile. Though Tony was trying to seem casual, Steve could see how happy he was to see them. 

“Have you been taking care of yourself?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy still leaning against his side. 

“What? Yeah, of course! Totally. Don’t be ridiculous.” The boy responded quickly. 

Tony looked unimpressed. “MJ, when was the last time he ate?” He asked, looking up at the girl. 

“Eh. Some time early this morning.” She responded, looking at her fingernails in feigned disinterest. 

“Peter!” Tony frowned down at the boy — Peter apparently. “You can’t do that!” 

“Sorry, sorry.” Peter answered, managing to look at least a little ashamed. Steve assumed that this must have been the ‘Pete’ Tony had been talking to on the way there. 

Steve was struggling to keep the utter disbelief off his face as he watched the interactions going on in front of him, but by the amused look Natasha was sending him, he concluded that he was not succeeding. He was certain that when they had parted, Tony had not had any children, yet somehow in the almost 3 years since they had seen each other, Tony had somehow managed to get not one, not two, but  _ three teenagers. _

Steve blinked a couple of times to make sure that he wasn’t hallucinating. No such luck; when he opened his eyes again, the three teens — well, actually the two teens and one pre-teen — were still standing in front of him. 

Seemingly having enough of standing there awkwardly, Natasha cleared her throat and looked pointedly at Tony. At the noise, Peter and MJ both looked up, apparently only then noticing the other four people standing there. Steve couldn’t help but smile at their reactions; MJ’s face remained completely uninterested as she took them in (though Steve did notice her blink a little in surprise as her eyes landed on Natasha), whereas Peter’s eyes went so wide that Steve was legitimately concerned that they might fall out of his head. 

“Right.” Natasha let out a small smile. “We’re glad we could help. We’re going to head out now and we would prefer it if you didn’t, you know, track us.” 

“You know…” Tony hesitated a moment, before shaking his head slightly and continuing. “We’ve been working with Ross for over a year now to get you guys pardoned and were  _ so _ close. I’m not sure I can ever thank you enough for what you’ve done.” He smiled down at Natsuko. “We’re going to be staying at the compound while the kids are off school for winter break, but if you’re interested, your rooms are all still here. And, if you’re willing to wait a few weeks, you’ll probably be able to leave as free people.” 

Steve felt Sam stiffen next to him, and he himself couldn’t quite stop his own surprised intake of breath. They hadn’t really been paying attention to the whole Accords negotiation situation; once they had officially been declared as war criminals, Steve hadn’t been so interested in keeping up with the news. But if Tony was saying what Steve thought he was saying, there was a possibility that they could be pardoned. 

Natasha looked at each of the three of them, gauging their reactions. Sam and Steve both nodded immediately, and while it took him a little longer, in the end Bucky nodded as well. 

Smiling, Natasha turned back to Tony. “If you’re sure, then we would love to take you up on that offer.”

Tony and Pepper also appeared to be having a silent conversation, judging by the moment of silence before Pepper let out a soft sigh and a nod. 

“Wonderful!” Tony clapped his hands once. “Now that that’s all settled, let’s get inside. It’s cold out here.” 

“Uh…” Peter pulled a little on Tony’s sleeve.

“What?” He asked, looking down at Peter, confused. Peter looked pointedly over at where Steve and the others were standing. “Oh right!” Tony turned back towards them. “Guys, this is Peter and this is MJ.” He gestured to each of them in turn. “Pete, MJ, I’m assuming you know all of their names.”

Peter nodded enthusiastically, while MJ let out a little “mhm”. 

“Well, then we’re done!” With that, Tony turned on his heel, threw an arm around Peter, and walked off towards the compound, leaving Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Natasha reeling in his wake. Pepper gave them a sympathetic smile before following him. Steve and Bucky shared an amused glance, and Sam let out a soft huff of laughter, shaking his head. Apparently some things never change. 

“Well, you heard the man.” Natasha smiled at Tony’s retreating form in something akin to fondness. 

With that the four of them made their way towards the avengers compound, with, for the first time in three years, the hope of freedom shining on the horizon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
